Prepared in Honor of
the 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE FOUNDING OF THE SCHOOL by Professor William
Soule Shoemaker

The School of Photography was founded at the former Rochester Athenaeum
and Mechanics Institute (RAMI) in 1930 at the request of industrial
photographic interests in the Rochester area. Such organizations
included Bausch and Lomb Optical Company, Defender Photo Supply Company
(now the E.I. DuPont De Nemours Company), Haloid Company (now the Xerox
Corporation), and Eastman Kodak Company. The educational objective was
to provide trained employees for these organizations as RAMI was
already providing training in electrical, mechanical and other fields.

The coordination of events leading to the formation of the School of
Photography issued from Eastman Kodak Company's Director of Training
and Personnel, Mr. Earl Billings.

Mr. Frederick F. Brehm was reassigned from his duties at the Eastman
Kodak Company to be a part-time teacher in what was to become the
School of Photography. This remarkable inventor and craftsman brought
his creative ingenuity to the students enrolled in the first year of a
two year cooperative or work-study photography program. The first class
in September 1930, consisted of 24 students.

C.B. Neblette was "loaned" from Eastman Kodak on a part-time basis to
the school in August of 1931. He joined Mr. Brehm and became the
teacher of the second year class. Messrs. Brehm and Neblette together
comprised the entire faculty of the Photography Technology Program.
They were considered part-time faculty as they taught two half-days per
week. Students were also enrolled in classes from other divisions.

Mark Ellingson, now President Emeritus, was the school's first
supervisor. His duties in 1930 were divided between supervising the
school and working on curriculum planning and development for RAMI.
Ellingson continued as supervisor until 1939 when C.B. Neblette was
named supervisor and Ellingson became president of the Institute.

C.B. Neblette became the first full-time faculty member in August of
1936, although he was still considered "on loan" from his employer,
Eastman Kodak Company. Mr. Charles Savage joined Neblette and Brehm in
1937, and Mr. Wallis Dobbs was added to the faculty soon after. The
addition of Savage and Dobbs emphasized professional photography as
well as photographic technology. Dobbs was from a studio in Michigan,
and Savage, a RAMI graduate, class of '32, had operated his own
professional portrait studio in Warren, Pa.

The addition of Dobbs and Savage resulted from the trend which
developed from the first class’ growing interest in the professional
rather than technical aspects of photography. Many students came from
Ohio and Pennsylvania, and wished to return to positions in their home
areas.

1936 brought a change in the two-year cooperative photography program.
About 30-40 first year students were entering the program. The net
result was that the Rochester photographic industry had problems in
absorbing the graduates. It was also evident that many students did not
wish to be involved in the cooperative "learn and earn" aspects of the
program and some did not want to go into the industrial aspects of
their field. The industry did not want to be involved in training
first-year students as technologists. So, to meet these problems the
two-year cooperative photography program was changed to a three-year
program. The first year was a tull-time school year, and the remaining
two years were taught as a cooperative program. However, a student
could elect full-time status eliminating the cooperative, if he chose.
Two distinct programs were operated under the three-year system.
Photographic Technology retained the technologists' training, and
Professional Photography prepared students for the studio and
advertising photography aspect via four majors: General Professional
Photography, Portrait Photography, Commercial Illustration Photography,
and Color Photography.

Color advertising photography became a part of the curriculum when P.H.
Shawcross joined the fauelty in 1947. Shawcross retired in 1953 and
Robert Bagby taught color advertising photography until 1968. The names
and service dates of the school's faculty are presented in Appendix I.
As the number of first-year students increased through the years, it
was evident that Neblette, now Director, had made the right program
decisions, as the Professional Photography courses were well accepted.

Howard Colton and Silas Thronson joined the faculty in 1939, and
brought educational expertise in color photography and photographic
chemistry respectively. Both of these gentlemen undertook as their
first project research with students into the formulation of dyes for
the wash off relief color print process. The project was successful and
resulted in a remarkable saving for the operating budget as commercial
dyes were quite expensive and the volume used was rather high.

The faculty consisting of the above mentioned members was stable
through the early WWII years, when the students consisted of about
twelve civilians, mostly women, and members of the U.S. Army Signal
Corps. Incidentally, the troops were housed in an East Avenue hotel and
created quite a patriotic stir as they marched to and from the
Institute on Main Street.

Thronson introduced an aerial photographic mapping course in 1941, the
beginning of the instrumentation aspect of the present school. Much of
the stereo viewing and plotting equipment was fabricated by the
students under the direction of Thronson. In the early years of the
war, Howard Colton was employed by Eastman Kodak, and remained with
that organization until his retirement, when he returned to RIT as a
part-time teacher.

One of the highlights of the early school years was the induction of
the first year students into the Mysterious Order of Corn Borer's
Society (MOOCBS). The initiation was really an opportunity for all to
get acquainted. Baseball, tug-of-war and especially the hot dog and
corn
roast were preceded by the arrival of a twelve-foot long huge corn
barer made of chicken wire and crepe paper and sporting two huge
antennae with "Press 40" flash bulbs attached. The creature was carried
aloft by upper class students. The script was read, and the first-year
students prostrated themselves before the creature. After promising not
to develop film in hypo, a promise they repeated several times to show
their sincerity, the flash bulbs would be triggered and the initiates
would arise as new and important members of the ancient and noble
MOOCBS. The corn roaster along with the ceremony was a product of the
delightful imagination of Fred Brehm. The corn roaster consisted of a
charcoal-burning bin with a one bag capacity. Above the bin was a
ratchet system and metal fingers which would advance the corn 3 inches
and rotate the corn one-third of a revolution. I can still see him
working the ratchet advance mechanism by moving a lever (the emergency
brake lever from a Model T) while we would take turns at stripping the
corn and wielding a paint brush soaked in melted butter. Genesee Valley
Park no longer rings with freshman voices vowing not to develop film in
hypo, as the MOOCBS faded with the advent of World War II. Charles
Savage and a few of the remembering faculty resurrected MOOCBS in the
early fifties but interest was on the wane. Perhaps no one develops
film in hypo in these days of accelerated learning ... or would admit
to it!

Facilities and Equipment

The two rooms which constitute the School of Photographic Technology in
1930 were located in the northwest corner of the Eastman Building. This
building was on the corner of Plymouth Avenue and Broad Street in
downtown Rochester. Conversations with C.B. Neblette indicate that he
and Brehm would "borrow" a densitometer and several other pieces of
equipment from Kodak for class use. The equipment had to be turned in
at the end of each day. Unfortunately the Eastman Building was wired
for direct as well as alternating current and the wall receptacles did
not indicate the differences. Before the outlets could be labeled, a
student plugged the A.C. densitometer in the-D.C. outlet. C.B. said
that it was indeed an expensive "experiment," requiring some explaining
when the equipment was returned to the company that evening.

The two rooms caused other problems, too. When a photograph was to be
made, others in the room had to turn their lights out and one would
wait until vibrating machinery in the building stopped enough to allow
an extended exposure. In 1931 the school moved studio operations to the
second floor to the left of the main stairway. This move allowed the
students to photograph in the new area and then go downstairs to the
far corner of the building to develop their negatives! Equipment was
meager and had to be shared by the students. It was obvious by this
time that the RAMI budget would have to be supplemented by equipment
and other support supplied and sustained by the photographic industry
as a whole. Such support now is truly international in scope.

The "Co-operative Photographic Technology Program" received quite a
windfall of space when the facilities in the Eastman Building were
exchanged for much of the second and third floors of the Annex
Building. This was between the west side of the Eastman Building and
the east side of the RAMI heating plant. In addition, a beautiful house
on Washington Street, known as the "Practice House" of the Home
Economics Department, was pre-empted and converted into a studio and
printing facility. The living and dining rooms of the house provided
classrooms and "large" studios, and the bedrooms were converted into
smaller studios. The students were pleased that the previous designers
and builders had included four bathrooms, which were converted into
fine darkrooms. The basement was utilized for the wash off relief color
printing process. If memory serves, a "trap line" was also operated by
the more enterprising students to keep the rodent population under
control.

The Annex second floor had 25 negative loading/processing darkrooms, a
chemical-mix area, a large printing room with about 26 printing
stations and a very long darkroom sink in the center. The windows were
painted black. One might be waiting for a lengthy enlarger exposure to
terminate only to be fascinated by the movement of upside-down people
and autos on the wall as they moved on Washington Street. A chink in
the paint on the window gave a camera obscura effect. Chemicals
continued to be supplied by the school and students supplied sensitized
materials. Students mixed their own chemicals, and the-containers were
stored in a common storage area. It was soon apparent that the bottles
could not be properly labeled, since they
would be “borrowed" by fellow students. As a result, a remarkable
collection of labels appeared. Some had number codes a la antique shop
labels. Some had girl friends' initials, and some were impotent "decoy"
solutions. The situation regarding chemical storage was sufficiently
confusing that students were induced not to pilfer from each other.

The studios were on the third floor in one large loft. Moveable "flats"
allowed easy expansion or contraction of studio space as required for a
student's project. Cooperation of the students was necessary so that
one person's lighting did not interfere with another's.

Physical education exercise courses were not required! It was felt that
a day's activity of running to the studio floor from a darkroom, with a
loaded holder, and then back to the second floor for processing was
sufficient activity. It was remarkable that no serious accidents
occurred, when one considers young people taking two or three stairs at
a time in their pursuit of education.

The move to the Annex and equipment additions also allowed more
specialized activities in the program, as evidenced in the 1938 RAMI
catalog: the addition of a special processing laboratory... new
professional lighting equipment and a retouching room designed by C.B.
Neblette and Miss Bonnie Wein. The school was growing!

The Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute's name aptly reflected
the heritage and direction since its beginning in 1829. However, with
the distinct change in technical involvement, it was felt that RAMI did
not indicate such direction. Accordingly, in 1944, RAMI became RIT,
Rochester Institute of Technology. By 1946 the "Practice House" and the
Boiler Building were demolished and the Clark Building was built on the
corner of Broad and Washington Streets. The entire third floor of the
Clark Building became the new home of the Photographic Technology
Department.

C.B. Neblette allowed the faculty a remarkably free hand in the design
of the Clark photographic facility. As with the present Henrietta photo
facility, the faculty kept the better concepts which had evolved in the
past and attempted to them where they could. For example, the Clark
operation retained the "loft" idea of the Annex studios. However, each
studio area had a secure bay in which lights, stands, tripods, a 4 x 5
view camera and allied equipment were stored. This allowed a student
more efficient use of his time, rather than waiting at a cage for
equipment check-out. There were two studios: first-year and upper
class. The main difference between them was that the first-year
studio's ceiling was about 10 feet tall; the upper class studio's
nearly 30 feet high. When bounce lighting became more utilized, the
lower ceilings were in greater demand. Between the two studios, some 50
students could be accommodated. A bank of 25 darkrooms was assigned to
color. There were double occupancy darkrooms for first year printing,
and 25 single student darkrooms for upper-class printing. Negative
darkrooms were smaller,
but could be used by about 50 students. Dye transfer rocker tables were
designed by instructors of color photography. These tables are still in
operation at the present Henrietta location.

Silas Thronson developed a then "new color sheet film processor, with
vane agitation." Specialized rooms included an equipment and chemical
cage, retouching room, and apparatus room. By 1956 alterations produced
an optics facility, photographic chemistry laboratory, and print
critique rooms. Faculty office space was limited to three rooms; two of
these rooms had the majority of the faculty members. This was excellent
insofar as communications and comradery were better than smaller
offices could afford. Solutions were prepared at first by a cage
attendant and later by a student assistant. Containers of processing
solutions were distributed to processing darkrooms. The laboratories
were served by a 68 degree F. temperature control system. Fortunately,
the present location is water temperature controlled in smaller areas
so that elevated and changing processing temperatures can be maintained.

Enrollment increased from about 50 a year, before Clark, to some 400 a
year before the move to the present site! The Clark photographic
facility was a remarkable commitment by the Trustees, RIT officials and
Rochester industry. This was only the beginning!

In 1959, President Mark Ellingson brought students, faculty and staff
together for a review of the real estate problem. The state and county
were making plans for a highway and clover-leaf system, which would
remove much of the Third Ward RIT property holdings. The problem was
either to build a vertical Institute on what we had left, or we move.
The final answer: move. Photography by now had 400 students and three
programs, Professional Photography, Photographic Illustration, and
Photographic Science and Instrumentation (changed from Photographic
Technology). The School's name was changed to School of Photography in
1960. In 1962, C.B. Neblette was named Dean of the College of Graphic
Arts and Photography, as well as Director of the School of Photography.

The rules of designing the new RIT Henrietta campus were to plan on
twice the number of students, to plan on same programs then being
taught. The early '60s were busy years for Neblette and his faculty,
which now numbered about 20. Each faculty group as well as individual
members was responsible for plans for the new campus. While the
architects and facility designers produced the final drawings, the
faculty were basically responsible for the new building's layout and
specialty areas. Indeed, many areas took on faculty names such as Bob
Ohl's industrial darkrooms, Shoe's chem lab, Stroebel's studios, etc.
All appeared to be going well until new programs were started which had
not been taught in 1960, the date when the "rules" were set. For
example, the BFA program, born among strong opinions under the Minor
White-Ralph Hattersly regime, was now growing. Space was needed for
expansion of the motion picture course; space was needed for additional
faculty offices and for photo finishing facilities. MFA Photography, MS
Photographic Science and Instrumentation Division, Biomedical
Photographic Communications, and Television courses were not even
considered in the early '60s.

Ground was broken and the new campus in the Town of Henrietta was
underway in 1961. However, the building was not available for occupancy
until 1968. In the meantime Dean Neblette relinquished the reins of the
School of Photography's Directorship in 1966, and William Soule
Shoemaker was made the new Director, with the approval of the faculty
and RIT's administration. Professor David Engdahl was appointed
Assistant Director. D.B. Neblette remained as dean of the College of
Graphic Arts and Photography. A strong feeling existed that the name
"School of Photography" did not adequately describe either the
educational philosophy or objectives. Accordingly, faculty members
elected to change the school's name once more, to the School of
Photographic Arts and Sciences.

From the beginning years, administration, students and faculty have
enjoyed a remarkable ability to work together for the common good of
the school. Much to the consternation of some, C.B. Neblette instituted
a policy to involve students in the formulation of school policies. The
students were given the opportunity to elect a representative to attend
faculty meetings, express opinions and give advice from the student
view.

Wherever possible, the administration has cooperated with student
projects. In 1936 the "Photo Tech Bulletin," a student paper, appeared.
It consisted of articles written by students, reviews, evaluations of
technical publications and hints on practical photography. During the
early forties, it was sent' to all alumni, especially those in the
service. It was noted that in 1940, want ads and notices appeared in
the "Bulletin." One wonders how successful the following want ad was:
"Wanted -- An unsteady woman -- one who is not going steady. C. L. K."!

The Photo Tech Bulletin faded from existence, unfortunately, in the
post World War II years. Another publication entitled "The Photo
Scientist" was produced by photo science students and was a remarkable
publication in that 'it was of sufficient caliber to be requested by
libraries and persons not normally associated with RIT. It was
published from 1970 until 1975.

The D.L.E. Honorary Photographic Fraternity was formed in the early
fifties. Its members assisted in tutoring students and became an
important asset to the school. The organization lasted until after the
move to the present campus. Other student-produced publications include
the current "Geneseean," which is published by the photographic
journalism students.

Students and faculty were often told before we moved to the Henrietta
campus that we would leave some problems behind but we would have new
problems, not even thought of at the old campus. The School of
Photographic Arts and Science was in session through the summer of 1968
and started to move to the new campus two weeks before the beginning of
the Fall Quarter. We moved in and pushed the workmen out. Late
deliveries of equipment brought unhappy students to the sundial at the
housing complex. Fortunately, upper class persons took control,
suggesting all students work to help the move instead of complaining.
It worked! The Winter Quarter was punctuated with a problem of "who
shall evaluate or censor student or faculty photographs for exhibit."
Again, cool heads prevailed and a sensible understanding was reached.
The Spring Quarter found faculty and students from several colleges as
well as off-campus persons embroiled in a court case involving a charge
that the publication of several photographs was not in the best
patriotic taste. The case was dismissed. Through all of these first
year activities the faculty, students and administration held together
and came through the experiences stronger than before. Such experiences
which punctuated the first year have not recurred.

On this 50th Anniversary of our school, it is not boasting to note that
RIT's School of Photographic Arts and Science is composed of a
remarkable cadre of educators who are constantly striving for better
educational methods and who are working in an outstanding facility made
possible by far-seeing Trustees and Administration and cooperatively
equipped by an understanding industry.

The Archives Office at RIT contains a collection of official catalogs
which make curriculum development studies possible. Although it is not
the scope of this history to detail such development, a brief review of
one area, fundamental concepts in the first year, may be of interest.
All students were required to enroll in a cluster of three courses:
Fundamentals of Photography, Photographic Physics and Photographic
Chemistry. When the Photographic Illustration Program began, those
students were not required to take the photographic physics or
chemistry course. Indeed, by the time the move was made to the new
campus there were two different first year courses: one course for
those entering Professional Photography and one for those entering
Photographic Illustration. The Photographic Science first-year students
took neither course but were involved with chemistry, physics and
calculus. In the early seventies, a concept of a "common first year"
was developed for the Professional and Illustrative students.
Regardless of which field they would enter, students would enroll in
"Materials and Processes of Photography." Essentially this provided a
return to the teaching of the basic technologies of photographic
chemistry and photographic physics.

"Materials and Processes" is a remarkable contraction of three one-year
courses into a one year course. It was accomplished by the preparation
of a self-learning manual. The combined lectures, review sessions and
workshop laboratories made for a successful formulation. Even this
concept is reviewed annually.

Appendix III lists the various photographic programs and when they came
into existence.

Faculty consulting with government departments and industry, never a
deterrent to teaching, on the contrary has been very beneficial to the
programs. Of note is the M.S. Program in Photographic Science and
Instrumentation, which was introduced through consulting contacts. The
United States Air Force urged that such a program be developed to meet
the service needs for educating officers in the photographic science
field. Civilians and military personnel now attend the program.
Educating service personnel was not new to the school with the 1963
M.S. Program. "United States Navy Quality Control of Photographic
Processing" has been taught each summer since 1958, and members of the
Canadian and United States Armed Forces have enrolled in existing
school programs during and since World War II.

Professors Rickmers, Todd and Shoemaker formed a consulting
partnership, "RST Associates." Contacts made through such consulting
brought equipment and course-updating concepts to the school. RST
Associates was formed in the early sixties and was terminated when
Professor Hollis Todd retired in 1976 after 29 years of outstanding
teaching at RIT.

Photographic education involves many disciplines. It may surprise the
uninitiated to learn'that statistics is considered an important aspect
of some courses. Indeed, it was fortunate that Professor Albert
Rickmers joined the faculty and saw this need. He has taught various
aspects of the subject for years. His outstanding teaching techniques
have brought much positive attention to the School and have enhanced
our graduates' abilities in their chosen career fields.

To supplement faculty teaching, it has been deemed desirable to invite
qualified guest speakers from specialized fields to speak. A partial
list of these speakers who have come to our School is presented in
Appendix II.

Dean C.B. Neblette retired from RIT in 1968. His long time associate
and close friend, CharlesSavage, retired in 1966. Dean Neblette and
Assistant Director Savage helped the school to grow progressively since
they had first joined Fred Brehm. In the early '30s many consider
Neblette, if not the first, then one of the first truly great
photographic educators in this country. There was mutual respect and
trust between C.B. and "his" faculty. He guided with a light hand.

About one-half of the Clark Building's photographic equipment could not
be moved to the new campus. Some was rapidly becoming obsolete, and the
new campus required more than twice the amount of equipment used at the
old campus. Such factors resulted in the solicitation of help from a
broad segment of the photographic industry. Accordingly, director
William Shoemaker and associate director David Engdahl embarked on
operation "New Equipment." The faculty joined in, making a team
approach. When the industry saw what RIT was willing to commit to its
field, help came in from small and large organizations, Present
equipment is valued at more than four million dollars.

A few vital statistics may be of interest: There are approximately 1000
students in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, which is
housed in the Frank E. Gannett Memorial Building on the main campus.
The School contains 60 studios, 200 darkrooms and 30 specialty areas,
including a Photographic Chemistry Laboratory, Sensitometry Complex,
Technical Studio, Densitometer and Computer Terminal Area, Optics Lab,
Industrial Lab, Bio-medical Lab, Processing Facility, Chemical Mix
Area, Film and TV Center, Retouching Studio, Color Complex, "Cage
areas," and the C.B. Neblette Reading Area. Quite a change from the
corner classroom-studio in the Eastman Building of 1930!

In 1969, Dr. Lothar Engelmann was appointed Dean of the College of
Graphic Arts and Photography, composed of the School.of Photographic
Arts & Sciences, The School of Printing, and the Technical and
Education Center of the Graphic Arts.

In 1977, Professor William Shoemaker, director of the School of
Photographic Arts & Sciences, resigned as director to return to
teaching. Professor David Engdahl, associate director, became acting
director until the appointment of Dr. Russell Kraus as director in
1978. Professor David Engdahl remains as associate director and has
also returned to teaching.

The School of Photographic Arts and Sciences is physically constructed
of building materials, photographic equipment and specialized
facilities. It was originated as concepts in the minds of Fred Brehm
and C.B. Neblette. It was nurtured by members of the Board of Trustees,
the Administration and representatives of the photographic industry as
well as by support of friends and alumni. However, it is due largely to
the quality of teaching by the faculty working with a cooperative
administration through the years that has brought the School to its
present level of respect on an international scale. We feel that this
is only the beginning. May the next 50 years be as productive and
satisfying to all involved in advancing and maintaining our high
educational quality. Appendix IV graphically shows the numbers of
graduates from the school educated by this remarkable team effort.

I wish to acknowledge the help and cooperation of Mrs. C.B. Neblette,
who was the School secretary for many years, and to Ms. Gladys Taylor
of the Institute's Archives Office, as well as Professors Emeriti
Hollis Todd and Edwin Wilson and Professors David Engdahl and Leslie
Stroebel. Their information and suggestions were most valuable. It is
fortunate that
Vice President Emeritus Leo Smith conducted a tape interview with
Professor Emeritus C.B. Neblette a few years after Neblette's
retirement. The tape proved of great help.

In conclusion, may I present a personal note. When I was asked to write
the history of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, I was
quick to respond positively. The reasons were simple. I had the honor
to know Fred Brehm and C.B. Neblette both as a student and on a deep
level of friendship. It was not until I started to write the history,
after acknowledging these men, that I found several problems at hand.
This history was to be concise. But how does one be concise when one
has been closely associated with some 60 outstanding educators in
specialized fields of photographic education? Having served as Director
of the School my mind is filled with pleasant anecdotes and pride in
and for this fine group of men and women. After all, the School is
largely the success of their efforts. I have included some names but I
do not mean to minimize the importance of the others. Appendix I
contains the names and dates of service of these deserving people.
Without each member of the faculty and administration we could not be
the outstanding school in our field.

Fred Brehm was associated with the photographic industry since 1892. He
was one of the first commercial photographers in Rochester and his work
was recognized by being awarded many prizes in local and international
exhibits. In later years his color transparencies -- most of them
photographed in his own garden -- were widely exhibited.

Fred Brehm was a fine photographer, and he was blessed with an
imaginative and inventive mind. Perhaps one of his more far reaching
inventions was the "Cirkut Camera" in which the camera and lens moved
in a horizontal arc while the film was exposed as it moved past a
narrow alit. This technique required a remarkable synchronous
relationship between the camera and the film movement. It is
interesting to note that the majority of aerial strip cameras operate
on the principal of Brehm's It eirkut" camera.

In 1910 Fred Brehm took his cameras to the British Isles and
concentrated on the Highland Country of Sir Walter Scott's "Lady of the
Lake." He pedaled his bicycle many miles over hilly roads and had to
trudge other miles on foot to obtain remarkable photographs.

Fred Brehm joined Eastman Kodak Company in 1917. He was trained as a
cabinet worker and in the 1890's was employed by F.A. Brownell Company.
This organization supplied Eastman Kodak with materials for the
manufacture of cameras. He became supervisor for the Century Camera
Company after serving as a special camera designer.,

While at Eastman Kodak Company, Brehm attempted to organize
photographic technology courses at Cornell University and Oswego State
Teachers College. It appeared that he was a prophet before his time as
the courses were not well accepted. However, in 1930, Eastman Kodak
Company deemed photographic education as an important facet on the
Rochester scene. Accordingly, Fred Brehm was "loaned" to Mechanics
Institute to be an instructor in the Institute's new photography
program. He taught at the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute
until July, 1944, when he became a consultant and instructor emeritus,
continuing to devote many hours to advisory and research work.

Fred was a father image to many of his students. He was an
understanding and positive influence in many of our lives. Those who
studied under him affectionately called him "Pappy Brehm." He will be
long remembered by those who were fortunate to have known him. He made
an effective partner with C.B. Neblette in getting the School off to a
successful start.

CARROLL B. NEBLETTE

C.B. Neblette began his professional career as an educator at Penn
State University, teaching Photography from 1921 to 1923, in
conjunction with the agricultural program. In 1925, he was named head
of the Technical Photographic Laboratory at Texas A&M University.
Here he taught Photography in Agricultural Illustration until 1930. In
this same year, Mr. Neblette joined the Sales Service Department of the
Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester. While he served this company until
1935, C.B. Neblette also devoted his educational service as an
instructor at Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (Rochester
Institute of Technology as of 1946) from 1931 to 1935.

C.B., as he was known to his friends, devoted 36 years of diversified
and innovative service to RIT. Having been an instructor of photography
at the Institute since 1931, he became head of the Department of
Photographic Technology in 1936. Throughout this phase of his career as
an educator, C.B. taught Photography, Sensitometry and Scientific
Applications of Photography, and in 1958 he was designated Professor of
Photography. In 1960, colleges within the Institute were established
and "head of the Department of Photographic Technology" was translated
into director of the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. This
same year Neblette became Dean of the College of Graphic Arts and
Photography.

Throughout his years of leadership, C.B. Neblette gave insightful
directions to the School, making Rochester Institute of Technology the
first institution of higher learning to place photography on the same
level as other disciplines. C.B. Neblette is appropriately referred to
as the "Father of Photographic Education" for his diversity in the
field. His publications, courses, program preparations and concern for
students' futures earned him this title.

As assistant editor of "The Camera" from 1923 to 1924, Mr. Neblette
went on to write extensively in the interest of photographic education.
His first book in 1927 Photography, Its Materials and Processes (1962)
is now in its sixth edition. This is an authoritative reference, which
for many years served as a guideline to photographic instruction
throughout the world. In 1958 this book was translated into Spanish and
Russian. The seventh edition, nearly completed before his death in
1974, was published under the direction of Mr. John M. Sturge. The
title of this edition is Neblette's Handbook of Photography and
Reprography. Neblette also was a consultant to the Department of
Defense in the early 60's

C.B. Neblette had an active relationship with many photographic
organizations. He had been a member of the Royal Photographic Society
of Great Britain since 1920. He was an active member of the
Photographic Society of America and the Society of Photographic
Scientists and Engineers.

He was the recipient of many honors. He was an Honorary Fellow of the
Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, an Honorary Member of the
Photographic Society of America and a Fellow of the same society. Mr.
Neblette received an Honorary Master of Photography from the
Professional Photographers of America and was made a Life Fellow of the
Society of Photographic Scientists and Engineers.

Those who worked with C.B. found him an inspired and challenging
leader. He had the ability of helping each individual reach his or her
full potential. Students knew his administrative capabilities, but they
admired him most for his love of young people, and his quick smile, his
grand sense of humor and his cigars!